How Tel Aviv got its name
How Tel-Aviv got its name
2/8/2009 There are few cities in the world which have gone through so many names as did Tel-Aviv in its early years.
The Home Building Society was the original name of the association that had decided to build the new neighborhood.
It soon became "Ahuzat Bayit" but, at the end of 1909, about six months after the neighborhood's establishment, its members were already engaged in a lively debate over the appropriate name for the new neighborhood: New Yafo, Neve Yafo, Nof Yafo, Aviva, Beauty, Tranquil, Ivria. 
One of the names that came up during the discussions – and was nearly chosen – was Herzlyia, named after Theodore Herzl, the founder of political Zionism.And that was not surprising.Everyone wished to commemorate Herzl in one way or another in the new neighborhood.Eventually, Menahem Sheinkin, who was one of the leading Zionist figures at the time, suggested the name Tel-Aviv.Sheinkin remembered that Nahum Sokolow had used that name when translating the title of Herzl's book "Altneuland' (Old-New Land in German).What Sheinkin didn't know, however, was that a neighborhood in Ness Ziona already had that name.In any event, the members of the "Ahuzat Bayit" association held a democratic vote and the name Tel-Aviv was chosen by a majority of 20 votes, as opposed to Neve Yafo which received only 15.
Sokolow once explained why he chose to translate the title of "Altneuland" as "Tel-Aviv".He had been especially intrigued by the combination of the two words "Tel" and "Aviv", which link old and new together.A "Tel" is a mound of ruins, and "Aviv" means springtime, the season of blossoming and renewal.The combination of the two words also appears in the Book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament.